


A Friend in Need

by Lucy410



Series: Primeval [9]
Category: Primeval
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-17
Updated: 2014-07-17
Packaged: 2018-02-09 06:34:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1972548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lucy410/pseuds/Lucy410
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lester keeps pushing Danny away but Danny is not ready to give up</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Friend in Need

**Author's Note:**

> This is set during Series 3

“I thought you might like some lunch, my shout.” Danny pushed open Lester’s door only to find the civil servant hurriedly pushing pieces of paper into a drawer.

“I’m afraid I don’t have time to eat today.” Lester pushed the drawer closed firmly and straightened up. “I’ve got to go out for a while.”

“A while?” Danny leant an arm up against the door frame, effectively blocking it and studied Lester’s face but it wasn’t giving anything away.

“I’m sorry, another time.” Lester was clearly distracted. “But I really have to be somewhere.”

“I’ll come with you.”

“No. This is a private matter.” Lester’s face was, if anything, even more closed up than it had been before.

“James.” Danny took a step forward. “This is me remember, Danny. Don’t keep shutting me out like this.”

“This is private.” Lester put a particular stress on the word private and at that moment Danny just wanted to turn around and walk out. 

He had hoped that he and Lester could have something together but what in truth they had at the moment were a few nights of sweaty desperate sex followed in the mornings by Lester effectively shutting him out even as he gave Danny a lift to the ARC. There had been one point when Lester had opened up to him a little but that moment had never been repeated and common sense was telling Danny that he should walk away from this right now. He couldn’t do it though, there was something compelling about James Lester, something that wouldn’t let him go.

Angry with himself and angry with Lester Danny repeated, “I’ll come with you.”

“Fine.” The capitulation was so sudden that Danny found he had let Lester walk right past him out of the office and he had to hurry to catch up.

“So where are we going then?” From the corner of his eye Danny saw Connor’s concerned face and he spared a moment to give him a brief reassuring nod.

“I’m letting you come,” Lester snapped. “You don’t need to know anything else.”

 

The mood in the car was icy and Danny actually felt himself shiver as he secured his seatbelt. Lester barely glanced at him before he put the car into first gear.

They drove in silence, out of London, heading roughly south-west. Danny kept his cool and didn’t try to engage Lester in any way. Maybe when they got wherever it was they were going he’d be able to find some way to get the man to open up to him. I won’t hold my breath, Danny thought ruefully and he chuckled, regretting it instantly when Lester shot him a black look.

Finally Lester began to slow the car just as they entered a little village; they swung left down a narrow lane and crawled uphill until Danny could see a small church sitting on the crest. Lester pulled up close to the hedge and without saying a word climbed out and pushed his way through the gate into the churchyard. Danny cursed to himself as he struggled out through the hedge that was jammed up against his door and hurried after Lester.

He found the man at the far side of the church standing with his head bowed in front of an impossibly small mound that put a lump into Danny’s throat.

“Is this him?” His voice sounded harsh in the stillness that surrounded Lester and he reached out and touched the man’s arm, expecting him to pull away. Danny was gratified when he didn’t. Maybe there was hope for them after all.

“I wasn’t there when he died.” Lester sounded lost and the man crouched down to touch the small headstone which simply bore the words Peter James Lester. There was no date.

“So I come and see him, every year on his birthday.” Lester turned towards Danny and there were tears shining on his face. “To let him know I still remember, that I never stopped caring.”

Warily Danny drew Lester into his arms, feeling the tug in his heart as he remembered his brother. Maybe that was what had drawn them together, two men outwardly so different but both had lost someone precious. For a moment the two men clung to each other. Then Danny saw a woman picking her way across the grass towards them, she hadn’t seen them but then her head came back and she began to hurry forward.

“What are you doing here?” She snapped angrily at Lester, blanking Danny completely.

“The same thing I do every year,” Lester replied quietly and with dignity.

“Salving your guilty conscience is what you mean.” The woman’s face was tight with anger and grief. “You never wanted Peter, why start pretending now.”

Shocked, Danny put a comforting hand on Lester’s shoulder, who turned his head in acknowledgement.

“This is Emma, Peter’s mother. This is Danny we..” Lester hesitated for a heartbeat, “my partner.”

Feeling dizzy at Lester’s sudden recognising of their relationship Danny barely noticed the snarl on Emma’s lips.

“I can’t say I’m surprised,” she snapped, staring pointedly at where Danny’s hand rested on Lester’s shoulder. “It makes sense really.”

Aware that Lester was beginning to shake, Danny spoke up. “I think we should go.”

“Yes I think you should.” Emma made to shove Lester out of the way but Danny stepped between them, giving Lester time to bend once more and touch his son’s headstone in farewell.

Neither man looked back and it wasn’t until they were back in the car that Lester put his head in his hands and wept.

“Thank you.” Lester reached out to take Danny’s hand. “For not giving up on me.” Lester turned in his seat to look Danny in the eye. “But Emma was right; it was my fault that Peter died.”

“I don’t believe that,” Danny replied.

“I didn’t want him.” Lester had turned away again; his voice was calm and matter-of-fact. “All the time Emma was pregnant I kept thinking that something might happen. I wasn’t ready to be a father.”

“When Peter was born what then?”

“I loved him, I wanted him.” Lester admitted. “But he barely lived three weeks. It was my fault.”

“Stop. The grief of losing someone, that’s never going to go away but you have to let go of the guilt.” Danny twisted so that he could look directly into Lester’s eyes. “It took me a long time after my brother died to stop feeling guilty but I had to.”

“How?”

“By remembering the good times, how much you loved them. By acknowledging that no matter how much you think you’re in control of life, you’re not God and never will be.” That brought forth a faint smile.

“Time to get back to the ARC.” Lester squeezed Danny’s hand and then reached out for his seatbelt. “Back to business.”

But under the noise of the engine as it roared into life Danny was sure he heard a murmured “thank you”.

________________________________________________

“They’re back,” Connor skidded to a halt outside Abby’s lab and grinned at her. “You coming?”

“Try and stop me. Where’s Sarah?”

“She told me to go away and grow up.” Becker said, striding down the corridor. “And that she at least was far too busy to indulge in childish antics.”

“Her loss.” Connor hauled Abby through the door. “Come on, we might miss something.”

__________________________________________________

“Business as usual then.” It was more a statement than a question but Lester shook his head.

“Not quite.” 

Danny watched as Lester approached him, a faint sparkle in his eyes. He let the civil servant kiss him; the kiss lacked the usual urgency but was instead so much warmer. There was trust in that kiss where before there had only been sex and Danny decided that he liked it very much. 

They broke apart and Lester put a finger to his lips and quietly reached out to tug open his office door. Connor, who had clearly had his ear pressed to the keyhole, tumbled forward into the room, to reveal Abby and Becker standing behind him.

“Is there a problem?” Lester asked coolly, while Danny fought to keep from grinning.

“No, no p..problem,” Connor stammered. “Just..um.. checking the door.”

“I really have to get back to my lab.” Abby was gone and Connor straightened up.

“We just wanted to make sure everything is okay.”

“Everything’s fine,” Danny responded.

“We should go.” Becker put a hand on Connor’s arm and pulled the young man away.

“Well,” Lester pushed the door closed. “Who would have thought that they cared?” Then he turned his attention back to Danny. “How about dinner, since we missed lunch.”

Danny grinned. “Dinner sounds good.” 

The end


End file.
